Reindeer Run

Tempe, Arizona

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The course covered a few of the bridges and it was nice morning for a 5k. Well done race by Lifetime Fitness. My 11 year old son and I enjoyed running it together. He actually beat me today. He took off in the last 100 yards and I just couldn’t stay with him. I liked the long sleeve shirts.

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Holiday Classic Triathlon

Anthem, Arizona

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This was the last triathlon of the year. I like the fact that 4 peaks Racing always has triathletes line up according to estimated swim time when the swim utilizes a pool. This makes for a better pool experience, especially if you can swim. I did well on the swim and bike. My run suffered though. My body had not recovered from the half marathon I did 6 days prior, My 5k time wasn’t as horrible as it felt like, but I was glad to have this run behind me. It was the first time I had even attempted to run since the half marathon.

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Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon

Scottsdale, Arizona

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This was my first half marathon and I had planned to be a bit better trained for it. I ran 10 miles 8 days before the race and tapered down from there. The race actually began and I wasn’t at the start line yet. I didn’t have time to do my normal warm up. There were too few bathrooms available. I struggled for the first few miles trying to find a rhythm and I had some minor cramping in my legs. I was worried it was going to be a long race. At about 3 miles in I found my running legs. This race was the first one where I had a chip in my race bib. I thought that was pretty cool. These running races are always a humbling experience for me. There are so many people who run better than I do. For many miles my ego suffered. I hate being passed by young girls and old ladies. At 10 miles I could feel that I was running longer than I had ever run before. I tried to concentrate on form. At 11 miles I passed a clock. They had clocks at every mile. I did some quick math and realized that if I did the last two miles in just over 7 minutes a mile I could finish in less than 2 hours. I had run two 7 minute mile once back in May of this year. It was possible. I decided that I wanted to finish in less than two hours. I picked up my pace and began passing lots of people. I noted that I was passing many of the people that had damaged my ego far earlier in the race. They are still better runners than I am, they are just smart and not willing to hurt like I am. I was running at a pace considerably faster than everyone else. I started to wonder if I was being foolish. I would hate to blow up and have all these people pass me again. The longer I ran at that pace the more I began to hurt. I could feel the lactic acid building in my muscles and gut. The many years of sprint training as a swimmer has given me a high tolerance to the excruciating pain associated with going anaerobic. Sure I am a 42 year old fat guy who was not born to run, but I still have myself fooled into thinking I am some kind of an athlete. Whatever I am I do know I can reach deep within on occasion and doing that does something for me. In moments like these, when I can overcome the revolt of my physical body and achieve a dominance over the flesh, I feel something that is hard to explain. I feel inner strength. I continued the pace passing many people. I could tell that many of them thought I was a fool and that I would burn out. It wasn’t about beating anyone, I wanted just wanted to see what I was still made of. I made it! I did a half marathon in less than 2 hours. My parents were in town visiting and I really wanted to come home and tell my Dad that I could go under 2 hours. My Dad used to run marathons. I did pay a price for that 2.1 mile sprint. It was worth it though. When I started running back in February of this year I couldn’t run a ¼ mile without stopping. Now I had just finished a half marathon in less than 2 hours by sprinting under 7 minute miles for that last 2 miles. Even though I don’t even reach mediocre when compared to others, this was a victorious race for me. This race was put on by Runner's Den and I thought they did a great job. The finisher's medal was unique and one I will treasure to remind me of this race.

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Thanksgiving Day Triathlon

Goodyear, Arizona

For Thanksgiving my son Christian and I did a reverse triathlon. Run-Bike-Swim. It was different and made for faster transitions. I was a little worried about being competitive in this race because I haven’t even stretched since El Tour De Tucson. I had been sick ever since that night and I hadn’t exercised or so much as even stretched since the race. I never got to go on a recovery ride. The day of the race was the first day I felt ok. For whatever reason, somehow today I had the juice. In a reverse triathlon, with the run behind you, there is no hesitation to give it everything you have on the bike. It was acutally one of my personal bests. The YMCA pool is just about the best pool I have encountered in Arizona.

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El Tour De Tucson

Tucson, Arizona

El Tour De Tucson is one of the biggest cycling events in the United States and North America for that matter. The race was well done, and I can't imagine what it takes to organize and run such a huge event that circles the enitre city. The thought of being on my bike for 109 miles had long haunted me. That is especially true since I had to pull my aero bars off to be legal for this race. I had planned to train for the race for weeks prior to the race without my aero bars. That never happened. I had planned to train moving closer and closer to the distance to prepare for the race. I had doubts of whether or not I could even finish this race based on my lack of training. I lined up in a packed chute at 5:00 a.m. in the gold section. There were so many bodies, and so many bikes. I had moments of exhaustion and moments of bizarre strength. I was questioning whether I could finish at about 60 miles and then from 70 to 80 I passed hundreds of riders on a long flat. The hardest part of the race was definitely the last 30 miles. There was a fierce headwind that actually made me curse out loud. At times during the race I was traveling over 30 MPH, but that headwind slowed me to 11-12 mph for the entire last 30 miles. My quads started to feel like there were little knives stabbing into them. My neck hurt. My wrists were throbbing, my elbows and shoulders hurt. My triceps felt like they were going to cramp. After over 6 hours of non-stop hard exercise my body was starting to shut down and tell me to stop. My stomach was sick of gels, chomps and power bars. I got a little worried. The last 9 miles ticked off so slowly and painfully that I wanted to quit. In those last miles my mental focus was beginning to suffer also. I wanted to draft off people to escape the wind, but I couldn’t trust my riding proficiency to avoid collision in my impaired mental state so I stayed it alone. We were traveling along the I10 freeway frontage road for the last 10 miles of the race and all I wanted to see was a sign that mentioned the Congress exit. That sing seemed to take forever to appear. I have never had so much sympathy for those behind me before in a race. I felt great pity for those poor souls still out on that course facing that afternoon wind and hoped they could soon dismount their bikes and be able to stop pedaling soon. Anybody who had to pedal longer than I did I felt extremely sorry for, because I was DONE! I did not want to go another mile I crossed the finish line and got off my bike and struggled to walk as the knives in my quads intensified. I became fearful that they would cramp and I would fall down and embarrass myself. I tried to find some water. I just wanted stop moving. I found a park with grass on the way back to the car and layed down with my feet elevated up on a big rock for about 15 minutes and the stabbing pains in my quads subsided. My legs felt fine after that, and by some miracle have felt fine ever since. I don’t understand it. I did not even get sore. A bit of geographic trivia: according to google maps, the trip from our house to Tucson is shorter than the race. It takes over 2 hours to drive down there. This was an experience I will not forget, I made it and in the bicylcing world I can now say that I am a Centurion.

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Blue Water Triathlon

Parker, Arizona
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This was a Mountain Man Event, so I figured knew I could count on it being a good event. The Blue Water Casino and Resort is a fun little place. There is a movies theater, an arcade and a fantatic 3 story pool area complete with a slide. I had some of the best prime rib I have tasted in years at the All-You-Can-Eat buffet. Probably not a good idea the night before the race, but I couldn't resist for $11.95 plus $3.00 off with a coupon they agave me at race registration. The lady doing the cutting was giving me 1+ inch thick slices too. When we got there, my son Christian and I went swimming in the river just before sunset. It was the highlight of the trip for me. Christian and I had the Colorado river all to ourselves and it was beautiful. The water there is clear and and you can look down and see all these flowing plants about 20 feet below. Our room was big and had a balcony with a river view as well as a view of transition, the swim and finish. Great destination race. Great resort. Great race. The race has a fast swim. You get a little help from the current. Technically you are swimming in two states. The bike course also takes place in both Arizona and California. I liked the bike course. California needs to pave it road however. Half of the bike course was in Arizona and half in California. We got to cross two dams. The Parker dam was pretty cool. The bike course was 33 miles and I enjoyed the Arizona side and did not enjoy the California side. The two states were like night and day. I am a California native but must say that California is serioulsy shamed by Arizona in this area.

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City of Mesa Halloween Triathlon

Mesa, Arizona

This was the inagural race and it went smoothly. Tri Family Racing did a great job as always. The City of Mesa provided nine police officers to ensure us safe bike course which I really liked. The shirt design was my favorite so far of the Tri Family Races, and was sponsored by Iron Gear Sports. The medal was the same cool Halloween logo as the shirt and I was happy to get one. There were several dedicated athletes who wore full costumes and medalled in them. All and all a fun Halloween morning.